It Was a Day of Cooking - I Still LOVE My Blender - LOL

I'm getting a slow start to my day today, although I got in my meditation, worked up the energy to do my 2-1/4 miles on the treadmill, took my shower, made my cups of tea and had a fruit smoothie. So now I'm settling down for a few minutes to write my blog, then I'll eat a quick breakfast and head out to the shop. If all goes well, I can get started on the envelopes for my holiday cards early today since I received the supplies I was waiting for in an Amazon package on Thursday afternoon. 

I really love my 13-bean Chili recipe. It's hearty and warm 
and perfect for our colder (and cooler) temperatures. I 
enjoy a hearty soup that can be a complete meal. 

Yesterday I worked my blender to the max and it performed like a dream. I started by working on my chili - it takes an hour of soaking/simmering the beans before everything else can be added to them, so I got those soaking, then started the meat portion in another pan. After those were done and had a chance to breathe, I brought the blender out and settled down to make another batch of the Roasted Red Peppers and Tomato Soup recipe I had made earlier in the week. 

This time I flattened out the peppers so that 
more of the skin was exposed to the broiler. It worked 
out really well, and the skin peeled off pretty easily. 
The soup, which has quickly turned into one of my 
favorites, tastes amazing! 

I decided to change it slightly - flattening the red peppers as much as I could. They took more room on the baking sheet that way, but I devoted one sheet to the peppers and used a different, smaller one for the tomatoes and onion. I increased the number of tomatoes because I had four that had to be used before they went bad. After broiling the peppers, I put the tomatoes and onion pan into the broiler and worked on the chili until they were also ready. By that time I had the chili in a single pan simmering for an hour, and the red peppers had cooled enough that I wasn't going to crisp my fingers peeling them. 

I've ended up using the last two setting on the right 
far more than I'd ever thought I would. I use Puree 
quite often, and the Soup setting is getting quite a 
lot of use lately as I've been exploring blender soup 
recipes. I also use Manual a lot for my normal 
everyday use. I do LOVE my Wolf blender.  

The tomatoes cooled while I worked on the peppers, tossing them into the base I had already prepared in the blender. After the peppers, I added the peeled tomatoes (which peeled like a dream) and the onion and put the blender onto "soup" setting. That's an automatic 6+ minute cycle so I had a chance to clean up and put that set of cookware away before starting the next item. The soup finished, I put it into containers and washed and dried the blender. 

Alkagizer recipes include a BUNCH of green things (but 
I've never had it come out of the blender looking as 
green as the bowl in the center here. I suspect that's 
some photoshopping and maybe some green dye as well. 

The second task was a batch of my alkagizers for my upcoming week. Back to the blender with a bunch of assorted veggies, odds and ends, different spices and flavors, shredded garlic, chopped green onions and, for a change, some cinnamon and a large dollop of raw honey. I haven't added any sweet to my alkagizers in the past, but it seemed like it would be a nice change. After a puree, it filled the four storage containers I have reserved for this mix, and they were in the fridge. 

I bought a fresh pineapple before my last 
Orthodontic appointment, not realizing that 
spacers would be put between my back 
teeth and that I would have my eating patterns 
altered for two weeks. I wasn't going to waste 
a good pineapple, so I whipped it into a smoothie, 
along with two apples that were nearing 
their "eat by" date. 

Looking at my kitchen, I realized I had a pineapple that needed to be cut up and used, I also had two apples that were on their last legs. So, I cut all of those up, put them in the cleaned blender, and made a batch of fruit smoothies. I just had one of these for a quick liquid breakfast and it's excellent. It does separate a bit in the refrigerator, so I did a quick whip with my immersion blender's whip attachment and it was perfect!. 

I haven't used my immersion blender very much, but 
it's a handy tool to have in my kitchen. I've mostly 
been using the whisk attachment. It moves at a 
much greater velocity than I can produce by 
hand-whipping. 

By the time DH came home, the kitchen was pristine, the soups and chili were in containers in the refrigerator, everything was back in its appropriate location, and I had a feeling of accomplishment which lasted for about five minutes - but at least I had a good day, so I was pleased. I hope your Friday was a good one, and that your Saturday is also great. I'll be back on Monday, so be good, stay safe and spread kindness. Slava Ukraini. 

Counter Space - Do You Have Enough? Is There EVER Enough?

Yesterday was a day of semi-accomplishment. Although I actually got a lot done, it didn't really feel like it at all, and there were significant things I had on my agenda that didn't get touched. Still, it was a good day, all told. I did get a batch of "cookies" made. Now, understand that since I don't do grains and I don't do dairy, my cookies are dates and nut butter. But, blended together in the food processor and actually baked in the oven, they're a cookie. They're not as sturdy as a chocolate chip cookie, but they're tasty. Will I repeat this recipe? Maybe not. It seemed a lot of work for the result and I'm not that much of a cookie person. But it's always good to explore options. . 

Although the recipe turned out to be tasty, I'm not 
sure it was worth the prep work and all that sticky 
from the dates. I might try this again down the line 
though. It was easy enough. 

I did come to the conclusion that my food processor is horrid. But, I rarely use a food processor at all. I'll have to look into an upgrade, but it's not high on my priority list. I'll stumble along with the one I have for a while longer. I think the blender is all I want to spend appliance money on this year, unless we start a serious hunt for an over-the-cook top fan/microwave hood. That's on our joint agenda, and if we could replace our large microwave with an over-the-stove style, it would free up some much-needed counter space. 

My food processor - exactly this model with this blade - really 
sucks. Instead of cutting the dates apart and making them 
into a paste, it simply balled them up into a large ball which 
I had to take apart again and again to get firmly cut up and 
blended. Adding the nut butter did help, but I also ended 
up having to add a small amount of oil to get anywhere with 
the mix. Would a different food processor make a change 
with how this recipe comes together? I have no idea. 

Counter space is at a premium in my kitchen. You've seen the photos of my new faucet, which is on my double-sink. I have a small amount of counter space to the left of the sink. That's where the microwave takes up most of the area, along with my knife block. To the right of the sink is the other counter top. We keep the coffee pot and 4-slice toaster on it, along with my cutting boards. I estimate we've got maybe a yard of open space, with about 18-24 inches of open depth. There is also one pull-out "cutting" board, but DH usually uses that for his car keys, phone, and any paperwork he needs to bring to and from the shop. 

So, to the left you can see my knife block (the blue things 
are my dish washing gloves). To the left out of the photo 
is the microwave. On the right, you see DH's travel mug 
in front of the left edge of my cutting boards which stand 
upright at the back of the counter. Out of the photo is the 
coffee pot and the toaster. This is the full extent of usable 
counter space I have in my kitchen. Not much! 

The kitchen was the one room I was sacrificing when we chose this house. I walked in with eyes wide shut. In the old house, although it also had just a single run of counter top, I had a large kitchen table and used that for food prep all the time. The stove was completely separate, and we had an over-the-stove shelf for our microwave, so no counter space needed for that. The kitchen was a much larger room and it didn't seem that we were in each other's way all of the time. Our current kitchen is narrower, and although there are a lot of plusses (cabinet space, for one), our counter space is a serious negative. Still, I've lived with it since the mid-1980's, so I guess we manage. 

I do have a bottom corner cabinet with a lazy 
Susan inside. We have a few things in it, but 
very little. I'm going to move the food processor down 
here because I need the upper cabinet room, but I'm 
also wondering if a new food processor would fit 
in this cabinet. I'm not sure how they assemble 
and disassemble from the motorized base. 

Why think about kitchen space? Because I'm thinking about a possible new food processor and need to think about where it would be stored and where it would be used. So even though that's in the future, it's good to think about these things now. Surprises are never welcome when the necessity is knocking at the door. I'm out of things to say today so I'm calling it done. Have an excellent Saturday and a great weekend. I'll be back on Monday, just in time to celebrate Shirebound's birthday. Whoot! Peace!